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Chapter category: DNA

Endogenous Retrotransposon Sequences of the Schistosoma mansoni Intermediate Snail Host, Biomphalaria glabrata

Chapter authors:
Matty Knight, Joanna Bridger, Wannaporn Ittiprasert, Edwin Odoemelam, Julio Masabanda, André Miller and Nithya Raghavan

Schistosomiasis remains a major public health concern in 75 countries. Disease preva- lence and transmission is intimately associated with the presence of freshwater snails that serve as intermediate hosts for the larval stage of the parasite. The discovery of retrotransposons and transposons in the parasite genome (reviewed in other chapters) offers some hope that Mobile Genetic Elements (MGEs) developed as delivery vectors may provide alternate tools that will help to disrupt disease transmission. In this chapter, we will discuss what is known about the existence of MGEs in the snail host. In particular, we will focus on the discovery and characterization of the first full-length non-Long Terminal Repeat (LTR)-retrotransposon identified from mollusks (named nimbus, BgI) from the snail Biomphalaria glabrata that transmits the digenean parasite Schistosoma mansoni in the Western Hemisphere. The nimbus (BgI) retrotransposon was identified from a Bacterial Artificial Chromosome (BAC) clone isolated by cross-hybridization with probes from a previously characterized Reverse Transcriptase (RT) encoded by a 2.0 Kb BamH1 genomic fragment (BGR2) and an Expressed Sequence Tag (EST) Bg37, isolated from a hemocyte cDNA library of the snail. The nimbus (BgI) retrotransposon was found to belong to the I-clade and thus displayed the hallmark features such as the Open Reading Frame (ORF) 1, ORF 2, putative Target Site Duplications (TSDs), and terminal tandem repeats characteristic of retrotransposons of this clade. Several unique characteristics, however, especially in the flanking 5' and 3' Non Coding Regions (NCRs), were detected in the snail element. The possible horizontal transfer of nimbus (BgI) in S. mansoni is also discussed, highlighting the need for further investigations into the role of MGEs within the context of host/parasite relationships.

Matty Knight
Biomedical Research Institute

Joanna Bridger

Wannaporn Ittiprasert

Edwin Odoemelam

Julio Masabanda

André Miller

Nithya Raghavan

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